Venting arrangement for container filling valves



M. 0. SMITH Oct. 9, 1956 VENTING ARRANGEMENT FOR CONTAINER FILLING VALVES Filed April 5 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet INVENTOR MARION 0. SMITH BY L/ ATTORNEY Oct 9, 1956 M. 0. SMITH VENTING ARRANGEMENT FOR CONTAINER FILLING VALVES Filed April 3 1951 EH H 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR MARION 0. SMITH ATTORNEY VENTING GEMENT FOR coNTAiNE'R FILLING VALVES Marion 0. Smith, Hoopeston, Ill., assignor to Food Machinery and Chemical Corporation, San Jose, Calif., a corporation of Delaware Application April 3, 1951, Serial No. 218,945

7 Claims. (Cl. 141-286) This invention relates to liquid filling valves and more particularly to a novel vent arrangement for filling valves adapted to dispense brine or syrup into a container prepacked With a quantity of fruit and vegetable.

The improved filling valve of the present invention is adapted for utilization in a well known type of machine such as that disclosed in the patent to Thompson No. 1,355,015, dated October 5, 1920, wherein a plurality of the valves are mounted in the bottom of a reservoir of brine or syrup and the cans or containers to be filled are brought into contact with the valves for a predetermined period of time to receive a measured amount of liquid from the reservoir. During the filling operation, the containers are usually maintained in sealed engagement with a portion Of the filling valve to prevent splashing or spilling of the liquid. Accordingly, a vent must be provided to permit the escape of air. However, when the syrup, or brine is added to a container which has been prepacked with solid contents, the lower portion of the valve, including the terminus of the vent, may be brought into contact with such contents. Such contact may and often does block the vent to such an extent as to reduce the rate of air egress normally permitted by the vent. Such a reduction in the rate of air escape from the container retards the flow of brine or syrup into the container and consequently, the timed period of communication of the container with the supply of liquid is insulficient to permit the deposit of the desired quantity of liquid into the container.

Accordingly, an object of the invention is to provide an improved filling valve which is adapted to dependably disnense a predetermined amount of brine or syrup into a prepacked container.

Another object is to provide an improved ventarrangement for syruping or brining operations which assures the necessary egress of air from a prepacked container which is being filled.

A further object is to provide a filling valve construction incorporating an improved venting means for air displaced from a prepacked container upon the influx of brine or syrup.

Another object is to provide a vent arrangement for timed filling operations which assures an adequate rate of air flow from a prepacked container being supplied with syrup or brine.

An additional object is to provide an improved vent construction for brining and syruping operations which may readily be incorporated in conventional brining and syruping valves.

These and other objects of the invention Will become apparent from the following description. and the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l. is avertical section through a filling valve incorporation the novel vent arrangement of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary perspective illustrating details of thevent construction.

2,765,818 Patented Oct. 9, 1956 Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view diagrammatically illustrating the vent structure in engagement with the solid contents of a container during the filling operation.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary elevation of a container in filling position below the valve, with a part of its side wall broken away to expose the vent structure which is shown partially insection as taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 3. H

Having first reference toFig. 1, a brining or syruping valve '7 is operatively positioned to dispense liquid from a supply tank 8 into a container C. The valve 7 comprises a cylindrical body portion 9 which is held in and supported by the bottom 10 of the tank and projects vertically upwards into its interior. Communication between the tank and the interior of the cylindrical valve body 9 is established by a plurality of ports 11 in the wall of the valve body near the upper end thereof. The discharge end of the valve is formed by a sleeve 12 which is telescoped over the lower end of the valve body 9. The lower edge of said sleeve forms a downwardly diverging frusto-conical surface 14 which is urged into contact with the surface of aconical valve head 15 by a compression spring 16 that is coiled about both the valve body 9 and the sleeve 12 and is interposed between a collar 17 on the valve body and an annular flange 18 on the sleeve.

' The valve head 15 is centrally apertured to threadedl'y receive the lower end of a supporting stem 19 that rises concentrically within the valve 'body 9 and the upper end of which is threaded into a coupling 20 that extends through and is supported from the upper end of the valve body. With the sleeve 12'held against the valve head 15 by the spring 16, the bottom of the annular conduit 21 formed between the valve body a and the stem 19 is closed.

Means are; provided to open the conduit 21 upon the upward movement of a container into filling position underneath the valve. An annular cup 22 is threadedly secured on movable sleeve 12. and a rubber cushion or pad- 231's held against its undersurface by aretaining ring 24 which is also secured to the sleeve. As a container is moved into" filling position, its lip 25 engages the pad 28' and pushes the cup 22 upwardly to consequently lift the sleeve 12 against the urgency of the spring 16 from sealing engagement with the valve head 15.

Liquid discharged from the annular conduit 21' is deflected radiallyoutwardly through a channel 26 formed between thelower surface of the pad retaining ring 24 and the upper surface of an annular deflector disc 27 which is clamped to the bottom of the valve head by means of an annular plate 28- that is'threadedly received interiorly of said valve head. The outer circular edges of the deflector disc 27 and the plate 23 are adapted to be in relatively close spaced relation from the wall of a con-tainer in filling position.

From. the foregoing, it will be understood that. syrup or brine is pa'ssedfrom the supply tank through the ports 11 into the annular conduit 21' and thence downwardly between the conical valve head 15 and the sleeve.12 whenever the sleeve has been lifted from the conical valve head 1'5. As the liquid passes. from the valve through the space between sleeve 12' and valve head 15 it is defiected outwardly through the channel 26 and enters the container as a wall, offliquid'proximately concentric with the wall of said container.

To providea vent passage for the air entrapped within the container andzcentrally of thezwall of incoming liquid, the annular plate 28is1 centrally apcrtured, as shown at 29; and thesupporting stem1-9 is of tubular construction forming. a conduit 30 that continues through the aforementioned coupling-2.0; and? a. tube segment 31 telescoped' into and rising from the; coupling, to a point. above the maximurn'level of; the: liquid within thezsupply'tank. Af-

return elbow 32 is mounted upon the upper end of the tube segment 31 to direct liquid that may accidentally surge upwardly through the vent conduit back into the supply tank. I

When a container has been moved into filling position, the solid contents thereof engage the bottom surface 33 of the annular plate 28 and may block the entrance into the central aperture 29. If this were the only entrance to the vent conduit, no air would escape and the influx of brine would be retarded. It is accordingly apparent that there can be no assurance of the proper brining or syruping of a prepacked container with a vent conduit which comprises merely a simple tube, as normally employed in the art.

.In accordance with the invention, therefore, to prevent the blocking of the vent conduit 30 when the bottom 33 of the annular plate 28 is engaged by the solid contents of a container, that plate is provided with a plurality of narrow diversely positioned openings all of which provide fluid communication from different points and in different directions between the interior of the container and the lower end of the conduit (Fig. 2). A plurality of narrow slots 34 are formed in the lower surface of the plate 28 and each extends radially from a point adjacent the edge of the plate to the central aperture 29 therein which forms the entrance to the vent conduit 30, as previously described. Additionally, a peripheral channel 35, defined by the lower surface of the annular deflector disc 27 and the upper surface of the plate 28 is arranged to communicate with an intermediate section 36 of each of the radial slots 34 and, therefore, leads likewise to the entrance 29 of the vent conduit 30.

With particular reference to Figures 3 and 4, the operation of the improved venting arrangement will be described with respect to the brining of sliced pickles, although such selection of a particular product will be understood as purely exemplary. That the structure may as well be applied to the brining and syruping of other fruits and vegetables will be apparent.

A single pickle slice P, as shown clearly in Fig. 4, may block the central aperture 29 in the plate 28 and if no other vent passages were provided, the escape of air would be efiectively and completely stopped.

In the arrangement of the present invention, however, regardless of the configuration of the sliced pickles, vertical passages X and horizontal passages Y formed therebetween will communicate with some portions of the radial slots 34 to accordingly provide communication with the vent conduit 30. It will be understood that the width of the slots should be insufiicient to permit a pickle slice to actually become lodged therein.

Although the radial slots will always provide a degree of venting, it is theoretically conceivable that these slots could be covered to an extent which would lower the rate of air egress to a point below the desired rate of liquid influx. Since, as previously mentioned, such a reduction of venting rate would decrease the normal flow rate of the brine, an insutficient amount of brine would be deposited in the container during the mechanically-timed filling operation and would, therefore, produce a faulty pack.

To overcome this conceivable difiiculty, the peripheral channel is provided. Since the entrance to this channel is disposed closely adjacent the wall of the container and in a plane above the bottom 33 of the annular plate 28, pickle slices are eifectively prevented from lying thereover (Fig. 4). Accordingly, the numerous vertical passages Z formed between the pickle slices and the wall of the container are constantly available as means for passing air from the container into the peripheral channel 35 and thence into the vent conduit 30.

As shown in the drawings, the annular venting plate 28 is a unit which may be easily incorporated in the conventional filling valve as exemplified by the remainder of the illustrated structure. However, this plate may be formed integrally with the annular deflector disc 27 to form a single element with passages cored therein or may be otherwise modified while maintaining the principles of the invention intact.

Having thus described a preferred embodiment of my invention, what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

l. A filling valve comprising a tubular body, a valve head arranged at the lower end of said body centrally thereof, a sleeve movably mounted relative to said body to normally engage said valve head but adapted for movement away from such engagement whereby an annular discharge opening is formed in the valve, a circular plate disposed beneath said valve head and having a central bore in communication with the atmosphere, said plate also having a plurality of radially extending slots in its bottom portion and a continuous peripherally extending channel in its lateral portion in communication with said slots.

2. In a valve venting means for syruping and brining operations upon containers prepacked with solid contents, the combination of a movable valve, a circular plate disposed beneath said valve and having a substantially cylindrical outer edge adjoining a bottom surface thereof for engaging the solid contents of said container, said plate having a central bore providing a vent passage and a peripherally extending channel in its outer edge in communication with said central bore.

3. In a valve venting means for syruping and brining operations upon containers prepacked with solid contents, the combination of a movable valve, a circular plate disposed beneath said valve and having a substantially cylindrical outer edge adjoining a bottom surface thereof for engaging the solid contents of said container, said plate having a central bore providing a vent passage and a peripherally extending channel formed in the cylindrical outer edge of said plate, said channel being spaced axially of said plate from the bottom surface thereof and being in communication with said central bore.

4. In a valve venting means for syruping and brining operations'upon containers prepacked with solid contents, the combination of a movable valve, means disposed about said valve for sealingly engaging the edge of said container, a substantially cylindrical plate having a periph eral edge thereon mounted centrally of said sealing means and having its bottom surface engageable with the solid contents of a said container, said plate having a central bore communicating with the atmosphere and a peripherally extending channel in said peripheral edge thereof, and means in said plate establishing communication between said central bore and said peripherally extending channel.

5. In combination with a filling valve adapted to dispense syrup or brine into containers prepacked with solid contents, a vent tube extending vertically through said filling valve, a substantially cylindrically edged plate mounted at the lower end of said vent tube and having one surface adapted to engage the solid contents of a container in filling position, said plate having a peripherally extending channel in the cylindrical vertical edge thereof and a radially extending slot in the contents engaging surface establishing communication in said plate between said channel and said vent tube.

6. In combination with a filling valve adapted to dispense syrup or brine into containers prepacked with solid contents, a vent tube extending vertically through said filling valve, a substantially cylindrically edged plate mounted at the lower end of said vent tube and having a bottom surface adapted to engage the solid contents of a container in filling position, said plate having a central bore forming an extension of said tube, a continuous peripherally extending channel in its cylindrical vertical edge and a plurality of radially extending slots in its bottom surface arranged to establish communication between said peripherally extending channel and said central core, said channel being spaced axially of said plate from trically of said plate, said flange being spaced from said said bettem surface. plate to provide a peripheral channel abeut said venting 7. In a venting arrangement for container filling valves, arrangement intersecting with said slots.

the combination of a vent tube extending vertically through the filling valve, a sleeve slidably mounted err 6 References Cited in the file of this Patent said filling valve, said tube and said sleeve being mounted UNITED STATES PATENTS for axial movement relative to each other, a valve head 1 4 F C disposed concentrically about one end of said vent tube f i gi for cooperation With said sleeve to open and close said 2 i g'fii 11923 valve upon relative movement of said tube and sleeve, 10 6e "8-3 34 p 1 an annular plate having a container contents engaging t yars i924 q I surface on one side, said annular plate being disposed 39 axially of said valve head, radially disposed slzots provided 2 1 V 53 r in the contents engaging surface of said annular plate, er n 1 J said slots extending through said plate adjacent its edge 15 FOREIGN PATENTS and communicating with said vent tube, and an annular 267580 Gmat Britain Oct 29 1903 deflector disc having a radial flange disposed concen- 

